NHL lockout: Mediators called in for meetings this week

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman

Chris Young/The Canadian Press

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman faces journalists following collective bargaining talks in Toronto on Thursday October 18, 2012. Negotiations continue between the NHL and the NHLPA to end the current lockout.

In what may well be a breakthrough, the NHL and NHL Players’ Association have agreed to mediation.

Talks will resume this week in New York with U.S. federal mediators now involved.

“I have had separate, informal discussions with the key representatives of the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Association during the course of their negotiations for a successor collective bargaining agreement,” said U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Director George H. Cohen in a statement.

“At the invitation of the FMCS, and with the agreement of both parties, the ongoing negotiations will now be conducted under our auspices. I have assigned Deputy Director Scot L. Beckenbaugh, Director of Mediation Services John Sweeney, and Commissioner Guy Serota to serve as the mediators.”

“Due to the extreme sensitivity of these negotiations and consistent with the FMCS’s long-standing practice, the agency will refrain from any public comment concerning the future schedule and/or the status of the negotiations until further notice.”

The NHL locked out its players Sept. 16. NHL Players’ Association executive director Donald Fehr said he believes the two sides are about $182 million over five years apart. There are other issues, such as contract restraints demanded by the owners, that have also yet to be resolved.